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No. 6|4,|22. 1 Patented Nov. I5, |898.

- T. A. L. MOORE.

TRACK GRUUVE CLEANER.

(Applicatin led Har. 8, 1898.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

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'No. 6|4,|22. Patented Nov. I5, |898.

T. A. L. Moons.

TRACK GROOVE CLEANER.

(Application led Mar. 8, 1898.) (No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS ANDREW LEE MOORE, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR OFFIVE-EIGHTI-IS TO SAMUEL TA. ATKINSON AND DRURY SAMUEL HARDY,

OF SAME PLACE.

TRACK-GROOVE CLEANER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 614,122, dated November15, 1898.

Application filed March 8, 1898. Serial No. 673,065. (No model.)

T0 a/ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS ANDREW LEE MOORE, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Richmond, in the county of Henrico and State ofVirginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Track-Groove Cleaners; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My invention relates to an apparatus for cleaning the grooves ofstreet-car-track rails.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple and effectiveapparatus of this character designed to clean the rail-grooves in themost eective manner and which is adapted to be thrown into or out ofoperation at will by the motorman from his position on the carfplatform. 1 i

To this end the invention consists in the features and intheconstruction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter morefully described, and specifically set forth in the appended claims,lreference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 isa part sectional and part side elevational view of one end of a carhaving my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a top plan View of therock-shaft and cleaningplows carried thereby.V Fig. 3 is a broken detailview, in front elevation, of one of the plows. Fig. 4 is an innerperspective view of same, looking toward the front end thereof. Fig. 5is an outer perspective view of the plow, looking toward the rear endthereof.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, A represents a portionof the body of an electric orother motor car, B the platform at the endthereof, and C the usual dash rising from said platform. On the dash isa fixed bearing d, which in practice is preferably arranged between thecontroller-box and brake-handle when the apparatus is used on anelectric car, and mounted to slide vertically in this bearing is atubular operatingshaft E, provided with an intermediate series ofrack-teeth e and with a handle f at its upper end. Pivoted to thebearing is a suitable latch device adapted to engage the teeth and holdthe shaft elevated, said latch device consisting in the present instanceof a pawl g, having a handle g', whereby it may be convenientlydisengaged from said teeth whenever it is desired to allow the shaft todrop down by gravity. The lower end of the shaft is closed by ascrew-cap h, to which is rigidly connected the upper end of a rod H,which extends downwardly through an opening in the platform and througha guide-plate vl on the bottom of the platform, and a cushion block ordisk j, of rubber .or leather, on the top thereof, said block or diskbeing held in position by means of a plate j and serving to cushion anddeaden the force of impact of the shaft E when the latter is allowed tofall.

The lower end of the rod H is provided with a head Zo and is fitted toslide within a vertical cylinder K, and this cylinder is closed at itsupper end by a screw-cap Z, having an orifice to receive said rod.Threaded into the lower end of the cylinder is a sleeve m, whichreceives the upper screw-threaded end of a bifurcated bracket n, towhich the forward end of an operating-lever O is pivoted, as shown inFig. l. Inclosed in said cylinder is a spiral spring Z', whichencompasses the rod between its head Za and the screw-cap Z. Thefunction of this spring is to retain the parts in their relativepositions and also to allow free; dom of movement of said parts tocompen sate for the vertical oscillatory motion of the car body andplatform.

The rear end of the operating-lever O is rigidly connected to atransverse rock-shaft P, mounted in hangers or bearing-brackets p, fixedto the transverse fender-bar P, arranged adjacent to the wheels Q. Thesehangers or brackets are provided with cups or in lieu lthereof withoil-holes for the purpose of enabling the rock-shaft to be readily andconL veniently lubricated. By this construction it will be seen thatwhile the rock-shaft is mounted to oscillate in the hangers the latterare adapted to slide freely longitudinally on said shaft, so as topermit lateral or sidewise motion of the car without atfectin g therockshaft or' thel cleaning mechanism carried thereby. Rigidly mountedon each end of the shaft is a sleeve R,which may be secured IOO theretoin any desired manner, and each of these sleeves carries aninwardly-projecting arm S, having an upwardly-bent inner end s. To theseends of the arms are secured the track-groove-cleaning devices T, whichare for convenience of description herein termed plows.

Encompassing the rock-shaft between the hangers n and sleeve R arespiral springs t. The function of these springs is to hold the shaft andplow in proper working position at all times, thereby obviating anytendency of the shaft to move laterally or sidewise as the hangers slidethereon. Each plow Tis formed of a sheet-steel plate and is constructedwith a body portion or outer side portion u, bent inwardly and upwardlyat its lower end to form a shorter parallel inner side plate or flange tand a rounded or approximately scoop-shaped bot-tom fw. The front end ofcach plow is beveled off at its lower portion to form a cutting edge a5,while its rear end Q3 is curved or deflected inwardly, so as to throwthe dirt and caked grease removed from the track-grooves by the plow inthe track-bed between the two rails, so as to obviate any liability ofthe dirt falling back again into the grooves. In order to effectuallyattain this result, I provide the plow with an inwardly-projecting guideor delleetor plate y, bolted to the rear end thereof, which plateconducts the dirt falling out at the rear end of the plow to the innerside of the track-rail, as will be readily understood. The outer sideplate or body portion it of the plow is bolted or otherwise suitablysecured to the upwardlyprojecting end s of the arm S, as clearly shownin Figs. l and 5.

The operation is as follows: IVhen it is desired to clean therail-grooves, the operatingshaft E is drawn upward by means of itshandlef, thereby drawing upward on the forward end of the operatingleverO and tilting the rock-shaft, which causes the arms S to move downwardlyand bring the cutting edges of the plows into the grooves 5 of thetrack-rails Z, as clearly shown in Fig. l. By reference also to thisfigure it will be seen that the plows when in operative position areinclined at an angle of about twenty degrees and that they are arrangedin close proximity to the wheels Q. From this construction it isapparent that as the car moves the cutting edges of the plows readilyand cleanly remove the dirt retained within the grooves and that thisdirt is forced back and discharged at the rear of the plow on the innerside of the rail. An important advantage residing in the specific mannerof constructing and arranging the plows herein described is that thebeveled cutting edges cannot become dulled as they are constantlymaintained and formed by wear. When it is desired to lift the plows outof the track-rail grooves, the pawl g is released from engagement withthe rack-teeth e and the shaft E allowed to drop down by gravity,whereupon the forward end of the operating-lever O will be tilteddownwardly and the arms S upwardly, thereby clevating the plows. Theplows are arranged in close relation to the wheels to permit of thesand-pipes being placed in front of said plows, so that when sand isthrown on the rails that portion thrown into the grooves may be removedby the plows without disturbing the sand on the faces of the rails.

From the above description, taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, it will be seen that my invention provides a simple andeffective apparatus which may be quickly and conveniently operated atwill by the motorman standing at his proper position on the platform. Itwill also be seen that the construction and arrangement are such as topermit of the parts being thrown into and out of action without exertionon the part of the motorman and that the duties of the motorman are notmaterially increased, inasmuch as it is only necessary to use theapparatus over the entire line once or twice a day.

I desire it understood that I do not limit my invention to the specificconstructions and arrangement of parts herein shown and described, butreserve to myself the right to make such changes and m odilications asfairly fall within the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a rail-groove cleaner, the combination with a car, of a rock-shaftmounted in bearings on the underside of the car, rail-groovecleaningplows carried thereby, a lever for operating said shaft to throw theplows into and out of action, an operating device on the car-platform,and a yielding connection between said operating device and the free endof the lever, substantially as described.

2. In a rail-groove cleaner, the combination with a car, of a rock-shaftmounted in bearings on the under side of the car, rail-groovecleaningplows carried thereby, an operatinglever connected with said shaft andadapted to normally tilt down and operate the shaft to throw the plowsout of action, an operating device on the car-platform for raising saidlever, and a yielding connection between the free end of the lever andsaid operating device, substantially as described.

3. In a rail-groove cleaner, the combination of a rock-shaft mounted inbearings on the under side of the car, rail-groovecleaning plows carriedthereby, a lever connected with said shaft and adapted to tilt down tothrow the plows out of action, an operating-shaft on the car-platformconnected with said lever and adapted to drop by gravity, and a latchdevice adapted to engage said shaft to support it and the lever,substantially as described.

4. In arail-groove cleaner, the combination of a rock-shaft mounted inbearings on the under side of the car, rail-groove-cleaning IOO IOS

IIO

plows carried thereby, a lever connected with said shaft and adapted totilt down to throw the plows out of action, an operating-shaft on thecar-platform, a yielding connection between the operating-shaft and freeend of the lever, and a latch device adapted to engage said shaft tosupport it and the lever, substantially as described.

5. In a rail-groove cleaner, the combination with a car, of a rock-shaftmounted in the bearings on the under side thereof, rail-groovecleaningplows carried thereby, a lever` connected with the rock-shaft, avertically-movable operating-shaft on the car, a cylinder connected withthe free end of the lever, a vertically-movable rod connected at itsupper end with lthe operating-shaft and projecting through the platformand having its lower end inclosed in the cylinder, a tension-spring inthe cylinder acting on said rod, and a latch for holding theoperating-shaft and free end of the lever elevated against the tensionof said spring, substantially as described.

6. In a rail-groove cleaner, the combination with a car, of a rock-shaftmounted in bearings on the underside thereof, a pair of substantiallyscoop-shaped plows carried thereby provided at their front ends withcutting or scraping edges and at their rear ends with lateral deectors,said plows being arranged in close proximity to the wheels and inclinedwhen in operation at an angle of about twenty degrees, anoperating-lever connected with said shaft, an operating device on thecarplatform, and a yielding-connection between said operating device andlever, substantially as described.

7. In a rail-groove cleaner, the combination with a car, of a rock-shaftmounted in bearings on the under side thereof, rearwardlyprojecting armscarried by said shaft having upturned ends, a pair of substantiallyscoopshaped plows connected with said upturned` ends of the arms andprovided at their front ends with cutting or scraping edges and at theirrear ends with lateral deflectors, said plows being arranged in closeproximity to the wheels and inclined when in operation at an angle ofabout twenty degrees, and means for operating said shaft from theoar-platform, substantially as described.

8. A rail-groove-cleaning plow comprising in its construction acomparatively long body portion having a curved or scoop-shaped bottomformed at its front end with a cutting edge and at its rear end with adetlector, substantially as described.

9. A rail-groove-cleaning plowcomprising in its construction a bodyportion having a curved or scoop-shaped bottom provided with a cuttingedge at its front end and an inturned rear end, and a detlector-plate atsaid rear end, substantially as described.

10. In a rail-groove cleaner, the combination with a car, of hangerspendent from the bottom thereof, a rock-shaft mounted to osd cillate andto slide longitudinally in said hangers, arms projecting rearwardly fromsaid shaft, rail-groove-cleaning plows carried by said arms, springs onthe shaft between the hangers and arms to normally hold said arms andplows in operative position, an operating-lever connected with therock-shaft and projecting forwardly therefrom, an operating-shaft on thecar-platform, a yielding connection between the operating-shaft andfront end of the lever, and a latch device to hold the operating-shaftand front end of the lever elevated, substantially as and for thepurpose described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS ANDREW LEE MOORE.

Witnesses:

N. W. ROWE, C. C. CHAPIN.

